The Gremlins continue... MIL light flicker
Discussion
OK, only 1 day to go before I get the car up to Joolz to sort the current little gremlins out, and another one surfaces (this really isn't a good week)... I was coasting up to a roundabout out of gear, when there's a backfiring sound (even louder than the normal pops 
), and the MIL light flickers for a millisecond. 2 seconds later the exact same thing happens again, then all's back to normal for the remaining 3 miles driving. Any ideas?
Personally, I'm wanting to trace all of this back to Halfords fitting that dodgy battery in my car a week and a bit ago... I've never had a single problem with the car up until then, yet since then I've a burning smell from under the bonnet, the big fuse go (that could've been the smell!), the boot electrics go, and now this (which I'm guessing could be a short/bad connection messing with the spark plugs firing/something similar).
), and the MIL light flickers for a millisecond. 2 seconds later the exact same thing happens again, then all's back to normal for the remaining 3 miles driving. Any ideas? Personally, I'm wanting to trace all of this back to Halfords fitting that dodgy battery in my car a week and a bit ago... I've never had a single problem with the car up until then, yet since then I've a burning smell from under the bonnet, the big fuse go (that could've been the smell!), the boot electrics go, and now this (which I'm guessing could be a short/bad connection messing with the spark plugs firing/something similar).
ro_butler said:
I had the MIL light flicker intermittently on mine, but never had any backfiring/rough running.
It turned out to be a lambda sensor on its last legs. I hope yours isn't an electrical gremlin as these can be tricky to find.
Had the lambda sensors replaced a few months back, so I'm guessing it's not those. I just started wondering if it could be the injectors, also. Still, it ran perfectly this morning.
Firstly, thanks to Joolz, who's going to be having a very late night for sorting everything out. 
It was actually the cable from the battery resting up against the exhaust manifold & melting through - so it can be blamed on Halfwits after all. My strongly worded letter has just got a whole load longer! We didn't actually notice this at first, and tried taking the car out, resulting in a nice hole in the manifold where it shorted.
Still, battery is charging, boot works, no MIL light flickering, and no smell of burning. And the car's booked in for a couple of Nitrons next month.
Joolz, just thought - did we actually replace the big fuse that last time??? 
It was actually the cable from the battery resting up against the exhaust manifold & melting through - so it can be blamed on Halfwits after all. My strongly worded letter has just got a whole load longer! We didn't actually notice this at first, and tried taking the car out, resulting in a nice hole in the manifold where it shorted.
Still, battery is charging, boot works, no MIL light flickering, and no smell of burning. And the car's booked in for a couple of Nitrons next month.
Joolz, just thought - did we actually replace the big fuse that last time??? The burning smell? Well while I was driving TVRslags Cerb. I noticed the same thing. I took a look under the bonnet and found that the main cable from the bat. to the starter (I think) runs really close to the left hand bank manifold. This had caused the insulation to be burnt away, hence smell, and the battery to short against the manifold. There is a flap which runs down the side of the battery to stop this, but if its not fitted correctly after a battery change this 'could' be a problem.
Good luck! I hear Joolz is 'The man'.
Edit: 1 bloody min earlier and i would have had it! Bugger!
>> Edited by TVR Slag's BIL on Wednesday 11th February 23:34
Good luck! I hear Joolz is 'The man'.
Edit: 1 bloody min earlier and i would have had it! Bugger!
>> Edited by TVR Slag's BIL on Wednesday 11th February 23:34
TVR Slag's BIL said:
Edit: 1 bloody min earlier and i would have had it! Bugger!
>> Edited by TVR Slag's BIL on Wednesday 11th February 23:34
Now, do I believe you wrote all that before the edit??
Spot on, though! The battery's actually the wrong model, with the terminals at the wrong corners. [sigh]GCerbera said:
Glad to hear it's all sorted JS.
Nitrons eh, getting all set for the San Gotthard Pass?
Hmmmm still not sure about them Nitrons
Do I, Don't I , Do I, Don't I
I'm only having them put on the front to start with to see how that improves things. If that's good enough, then it's only half the cost. If not, then the others'll have to get done too.
j_s_g said:
I'm only having them put on the front to start with to see how that improves things. If that's good enough, then it's only half the cost. If not, then the others'll have to get done too.
or, get a full set of AVOs fitted the price of two Nitrons
(unless you're going to start doing a whole load of track days that is then fair enough - but the AVOs have made a noticeable difference on mine over standard)
>> Edited by burriana500 on Thursday 12th February 08:28
joospeed said:
lol .. yup it was a looooong nite ..
good to meet you tho
will chek everything else out again when you come in for the dampers .. and the decat (!) teehee .. i said AND THE DECA.. oh never mind
Cheers for spending all the time on it. Running perfectly again today, so I'm guessing it's charging fine - appears the manifold could take less current than the fuse. the cable that burnt through was the main feed to the fuse box rather than the cable carrying the charge / supply to the starter motor, so will be ok I think .. like you i can't remember if we chaeked it afterwards .. that fuse holder was accessed about 4/5 times throughout the night .. lol 
joospeed said:
the cable that burnt through was the main feed to the fuse box rather than the cable carrying the charge / supply to the starter motor, so will be ok I think .. like you i can't remember if we chaeked it afterwards .. that fuse holder was accessed about 4/5 times throughout the night .. lol
I don't think we did check it again, but the car's done 50+ miles since (with the lights on) with no trouble at all.
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